


The On-Going Investigation of Mr. Snuffleupagus

by Arytra



Series: Section 123 [7]
Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Alice Snuffleupagus - Freeform, Angst due to canon issue, Gen, Happy Ending, Some Fluff, little angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 13:42:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14749955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: Big Bird says Snuffy is real.  The grown-ups say he's not.  Penelope thinks that there's little evidence either way and handles it in her normal, professional way... mostly.





	The On-Going Investigation of Mr. Snuffleupagus

**Author's Note:**

> So, I mentioned in the first story that Penelope wasn't certain about Snuffy and decided to write about how that went down and the aftermath.

Penelope nodded, not listening too hard to what Big Bird was saying as she examined her paperwork assigned to this visit. She was listening enough to properly react either verbally or non-verbally in the right places, but the bird has sat down next to her while she was trying to complete her latest evaluation and she needed to finish it before she left. However, a certain phrase did catch her ears. “Snuffy?” She asked.

“Uh huh,” Big Bird answered. “We decided to color.”

“Who is Snuffy?” She asked, setting her paperwork down. She had the feeling that this might result in her needing to add to the paperwork anyway.

“He's my best friend. He's a Snuffleupagus,” Big Bird said proudly. She just nodded.

“I see,” she said. “Why haven't I met him before?”

“He always misses seeing the grown ups,” Big Bird answered. Penelope nodded, deciding to get more information from said grown ups later.

“So you were coloring...” Penelope gently urged him back into his story and continued her work. This 'Snuffleupagus' could wait.”

***

“Oh that,” Bob told her later. “That's just Big Bird's imaginary friend.”

“He seemed pretty sure Snuffy exists,” Penelope answered. Mr. Hooper looked at her.

“Did he tell you what his friend looks like?” He asked. Penelope shook her head no. “Shaggy brown coat. The size of an elephant. Do you think we could really miss seeing that?”

“Well probably not,” Penelope agreed. “But maybe it can turn invisible.”

“I think you've been working too much,” Susan said gently. “Come on, I'll buy your lunch.”

Penelope nodded, deciding to look into later. “I heard that Gordon's sister decided to move here?”

Susan's expression softened and the entire conversation changed.

***

“You probably don't believe me either,” Big Bird told her, looking dejected the next time she stopped in. She blinked a couple of times and then sat down.

“About?” She asked.

“Snuffy,” he answered. She nodded slowly and sat back.

“I don't know what to think, Big Bird,” she said. He looked at her curiously and she leaned forward, putting chin on her hands as she tried to think her way through it. Unlike everyone on Sesame Street, she felt far less confident with children, something that she'd managed to hide when she came to do her job and something that the large bird in front of her didn't seem to realize. “I know that I've known you a very long time. And I know that you wouldn't lie to me. And I know that kids can have large imaginations. And I know that a Snuffleupagus wouldn't be the weirdest thing I saw this week, let alone ever.”

Big Bird just looked confused. “So do you believe me or not?”

Penelope was quiet for a minute before pulling out a file and setting it down in front of Big Bird. She opened it up, letting him see his own picture looking back at him. “When I get assigned somewhere,” she said. “I have to write about all the people I see there. All of the things about them. And usually it starts with a photograph so that my superiors know that what I'm seeing is real.”

“I don't have a photograph of Snuffy,” he told her. She nodded.

“So, I can't say that Snuffy is real right now,” she said. “But that doesn't mean he isn't real. It just means that right now, I can't be sure if he is. Now, sometimes, before I get the photograph, we hear stories about things and have to investigate, that means to try to find things out about, the stories. Would you like me to investigate Snuffy?”

Big Bird's eyes seemed to widen. “You can do that?”

Penelope smiled softly and pulled out a file. She wrote Snuffy on the side with Snuffleupagus written in parenthesis. “Why don't you tell me about him and I'll write it down?”

“Penelope? I don't have a photograph, but I can draw a picture,” he offered. She smiled.

“That would be very helpful,” she assured him before getting to work.

*** 

She felt the blanket around her shoulders and jolted up, turning to look at Travis who gave her a sad smile back. “No word,” he said. “But if you're going to sleep at your desk until Kathy and Donovan find Big Bird, you should probably be warm.”

She didn't bother to argue, knowing it was his way of trying to make things better. She noticed that he switched out her coffee and food as well and took a bite to appease him, not protesting when he ate some of it himself. “We will find him,” she said, his file still out in front of her. Travis reached past her and picked it up, looking through the pictures with a small, sad smile. He paused when he got to one.

“I can't imagine your superiors were happy about this one,” he said, pointing out one of a far younger big bird coloring next to the trying-to-look-serious Penelope who seemed to be struggling with her own picture.

“Art isn't my strong suit,” she answered dryly.

“Not what I meant,” Travis answered, knowing full well she knew what he meant. He continued through and pulled out two drawings. “His looks better though.”

“You don't like my picture of Oscar?” She asked with a slight smirk.

“He looks like a green blob,” Travis answered and paused. “Oscar probably loved it.”

She laughed slightly at that before noticing that the Snuffy file was out next to where Big Bird's file had been. She looked over at Travis who shrugged, setting the folder back.

“He doesn't have Snuffy with him right now,” Travis said. “So, I thought it was better than nothing to have the files together.”

“Travis...” she said, her voice affectionate. “It doesn't work that way.”

“I'd want my best friend with me,” he said quietly. She looked at him and then back at the files.

“Did you bring any ice cream?” She asked. He handed her a spoon. The files stayed together on the desk.

***

Travis calmly followed behind as Penelope headed in. She knew that Maria, Linda, and Gordon had begun to take the bird seriously. She also knew that they had told Big Bird for years that his friend wasn't real and had gotten frustrated over it. She knew how upset he'd been. She knew that it was her job not to just jump to conclusions and somehow she still seemed to have handled this better. This was why she had come at night, after Big Bird was tucked in, and had called ahead to request to speak to all of them. She wasn't sure why Travis had felt the need to come with other than the fact that Donovan and Kathy had mostly likely called him in a panic that their boss was furious.

She entered into Hooper's store, Travis keeping her from 'accidentally' slamming the door. “What happened?” She asked. “Invisibility?”

She found her hands were naturally signing as she spoke, allowing both Maria and Linda to say and sign “No” at the same time.

“Can he change sizes?” She asked. At that negative, she continued. “Is he incredibly fast?”

“He's slow actually,” Gordon answered.

“Then how on earth did you miss him to the point you thought he wasn't real?!” She demanded. Travis looked over at everyone.

“We thought Snuffy wasn't real?” He asked. Penelope paused and looked at him.

“Travis,” she said slowly. “You believed Big Bird completely?”

“Sure!” He answered. “I mean, you fought werewolves and Big Bird is a giant bird and the Count helps me with the census information and last week, Cookie Monster stole my dessert so why wouldn't I believe Snuffy existed? I just figured that his mom and dad wouldn't let him come play during the times I was here.”

“Did you have him written in the census?” She demanded.

“Of course! I thought it was weird that the Count kept forgetting, but then I remembered that Big Bird said Snuffy and his parents lived in a cave off the street and I thought that the Count just wasn't counting that,” he answered. “So, I added them in.”

He looked so genuinely confused that Penelope just sighed. “The Protectors though he was imaginary.”

“Oh,” Travis answered. “That would explain why Kathy called me. You guys are going to have to apologize a lot.”

Penelope didn't bother to quiet her companion. He gaze was matching Mr. Hooper's instead. There was a pause before both of them headed out the door toward the storeroom. She heard the others questioning it and Travis' flippant response that Mr. Hooper and she needed a quick chat. She took at seat on one of the crate once the door was shut and motioned for him to continue.

“I don't owe you an explanation,” he grumbled and she sighed.

“You owe Big Bird an apology. You owe me a reason for why I shouldn't be panicking that every single Protector on Sesame Street missed this,” she said. “Because that's the first thing I'm going to hear about tomorrow. The fact that I made up a file for Snuffy is the only reason they still think I'm competent enough at my job, Mr. Hooper.”

“We made a mistake,” he answered. “I made a mistake. I've dealt with children's imaginary friends before. I thought this was the same.”

He was brisk, but she could hear the underlying apologetic tone as well as the look that showed that wasn't everything. She decided against asking and instead nodded. “I'll handle it,” she answered instead, the anger finally falling out of her tone. She reached over and patted his arm before standing up. “Nothing should change.”

“Penelope,” he said and she looked at him. “I'm sorry.”

Her smile was tight. “They've never thought I was that competent anyway,” she said, brushing it off. He snorted.

“They're wrong.”

“Thank you.”

***

The first thing that Penelope did was take a picture to put in Snuffy's file to Big Bird's delight. She put it right under the picture that Big Bird had drawn, patiently showing Snuffy. “So, Bird drew a picture of me?”

“I had to have a photograph to prove that you're real,” she explained. “Since I couldn't get that because you tended to leave before I saw you, Big Bird drew me a picture.”

“Can I draw a picture to put in Bird's file?” Snuffy asked. Penelope figured that they had already thrown protocol out the window.

“I don't see why not,” she answered. Snuffy looked over at Travis who was talking animatedly with Big Bird. She tried not to shake her head at the fact that the other official of the United States Government often matched the six-year-old in enthusiasm.

“Penelope? Did you believe I was real?” He asked. Penelope looked back and him, folded her arms and sighed.

“I believed you were a possibility,” she answered. “I wasn't like Travis. Travis never doubted you were real. But it's my job, Mr. Snuffleupagus to find proof before I made a decision. That's why you had a file made up. So I could investigate, that means look into, if you were real or not.”

“Bird was really upset,” Snuffy informed her. She recognized the anger in it and hid her smile. This was something she could help with.

“You're mad. I completely understand. Your friend was hurting because of this and you're mad about it,” she said without any doubt. Snuffy nodded. “And you don't know how to not be mad. That's okay. Not being mad takes time. Just start with not being mad at one person at a time until you aren't angry at any of them anymore. I'd feel the same as you if Travis was hurting like Big Bird was. You're a good friend, Mr. Snuffleupagus. Just try not to be angry forever.”

Snuffy looked at the ground and then back at her. “Would you be angry forever if Travis was hurt?”

She paused at that. “I suppose,” she said honestly. “That it would depend on who hurt him. If Big Bird hurt his feelings or Maria or Mr. Hooper did, no. I wouldn't because I'd believe they were sorry. If it was someone like those people who kidnapped Big Bird, then yes I would.”

Snuffy nodded and put his snuffle on her shoulder. “I'm not as mad at you.”

She forced back from saying that that made one of them who wasn't mad at her and pushed forward a smile. “Big Bird won't want you to be mad forever.”

Snuffy's expression changed slightly with that realization and she inwardly relaxed. Maybe she wasn't as bad at this parenting thing as she thought she was.

***

“Alice. Alice, give me the file. Alice,” Penelope tried to coax. The little, if you could call her that, Snuffleupagus was cheerfully holding the file and trying to look through it. Travis was with Big Bird and Snuffy, playing a game of some sort while Penelope had offered to watch Alice to hopefully get some work done. Travis and Snuffy had both found that to be hilarious before they left, and now she knew why, while Big Bird was just happy to go play with his best friend.

“File!” Alice exclaimed, taking out the picture. “Me!”

“That's right. That's you. But it needs to stay in the file, Alice. In the file,” she said, trying to take the rest of it before Alice dismantled the entire thing. “Come on. If you give me the file, we can color.”

“Color?” Alice asked, looking intrigued.

“That's right,” she said. “Don't you want to color?”

Alice set the file down and headed over to where they could color. Penelope quickly grabbed everything up and put it back in the file, setting the photo back into place. She then counted the drawings that had been in the file and relaxed.

“How's it going?” She heard Bob ask from above her and held up a hand so he could help her back up.

“I don't know how you all do it,” she admitted. “I think this is why I don't live on Sesame Street.”

“I thought you didn't live on Sesame Street because it would be considered a conflict of interest,” Bob said.

“That too,” she answered, setting the file down as she picked up one of Alice's crayons with both hands. Bob sat down next to her, looking at the file and chuckling as he took out one of the folded up pieces of paper, able to tell what it was. Penelope glanced over and then went back to coloring.

“So, why does Alice's file have twenty of her drawings?” Bob asked in amusement.

“Because apparently it's unprofessional for me to decorate my office with them,” she answered. “So, it's now a Snuffleupagus cultural tradition for us to keep the pictures or suffer a great insult toward their people.”

“And they believed that?” Bob asked. Penelope shrugged.

“None of them come out here so what I say is gospel,” she answered. “Kathy and Donovan haven't counter me and Travis just nodded in agreement when they looked at him.”

“About that,” Bob said, picking up a new drawing. “Aren't you two in different departments?”

“Aren't you supposed to be teaching music instead of being in here coloring?” She asked. They shared a grin. “Alice! Don't color on the wall and share with Bob.”

“Bob!” Alice said, rolling one of the crayons over to him. Penelope absently patted her head and went back to coloring.

“I don't think you're nearly as bad with them as you think,” Bob told her. She gave back a shy smile. “And whenever you decide to, you're always welcome to live here.”

She didn't bother protesting that time. “Trade me colors,” she instructed instead which he did. Both of them knew, however, that she got the message.


End file.
